Sunday, January 29, 2012

Not too bad turning 55!

I was born on January 29, 1957,
in Bakersfield, California.

Sometimes I have to use a 
calculator to remember how old
I'm getting to be....
...apparently my Mom does too! ;-)

Last night, George and I went
out to the movies to see
It was ok..
even though I like George Clooney..
he seems to play the same
type of role all the time.
 
Afterwards, we went to
for a nice dinner.
I had Sacchettoni 
with broccoli and sun-dried tomatoes
in a cream sauce. Yum!

George had baked penne with meat sauce.

We ended the meal with
a piece of cheesecake.

On the way home we 
stopped at the Blockbuster kiosk
and rented 
'The Help'
and
'Ides of March'
(oh yeah, another typical 
George Clooney movie).

The Help was terrific..
make sure you have lots of tissues.

It's been a nice birthday..
my Mom bought me 
a gift card to a spa I love..
for a day of pampering!

I can't wait to use it!

Saturday, January 28, 2012

4 months of RV living

What a beautiful day!
It's sunny, blue skies, 
and mild temps.

Tomorrow is my birthday,
going to be 55..
so I can order off the 
senior menu if I want ;-)

George is taking me
to the movies,
we're going to go see
The Descendants.
I'll let you know how it is.
We're also going to our favorite
restaurant..Agolino's..
for a nice dinner.

This week marks 4 months
of living in the RV.
It's gone by fast!

We've done a few things
to make life a little easier,
and I thought I'd share it with you.

We put a rack over the door
in the bathroom to hold our
towels..
and we use those 3M removable
hooks for everything on the walls.


We had a couple of these ribbon
picture holders..


...and put one in the bedroom, 
and one in the hall area.

A couple of plastic drawer units
for storage of bathroom items,
goes in the hall closet.


For now we have our winter
boots there, as well
as hanging our coats
in between the drawer units 
and our washer/dryer.

We bought a shoe 
caddy and hung it in our front closet,
for our outside shoes,
winter gloves,
and small things.
George also hung some
of those handy 3M hooks
for the keys.


The wire shelves that you
can buy at WalMart are
great for maximizing the space
in the tall cabinets..

Bill paying things, and laptop.

Printer and manuals.

Kitchen cabinet

We purchased a basket from
Lowe's that has dividers in it.
It is terrific between our two
recliners for remotes,
magazines, and Kindles.


Our refrigerator and freezer
have been fine for storage.
We added another shelf in
the freezer, and a couple
more door bins.


So far, things are working fine!
George has the basement area
the way he wants it too.

I'm sure when we are traveling,
there will be more modifications
to suit us.

Anything that you have in your rig
that you can't live without?


Saturday, January 21, 2012

Winter has arrived

Woke up to 6" of snow 
this morning..


George grumbled about shoveling,
the plow was on the John Deere
that was under 6' of water in September.

It is quite pretty,
as long as you are looking 
out the back window.



The river has ice floating in it!


 After vacuuming, dusting, and 
scrubbing the kitchen and bathroom,
I started the wash, while
George went for propane.
We have gone through
5 - 30# tanks since Jan. 1
Still holding steady :)

We decided to get out
and went to Logan's steakhouse
for a beer, peanuts, and a burger.



It was nice to get out 
and talk about RV things :)
We are starting to research
getting a dish for satellite TV.
We almost have it nailed down :)

Sunday, January 15, 2012

They lied!

Ok, so a couple things..
George said the propane tanks
are not 35#, but 30#.
The tank that he was going to get
was 100#, not 90#.

Oh, and the temperature
last night got down to 9,
not 12.

Even our little squirrel buddy
was cold:


He was covering his head
yesterday from the constant
flurries in the air.

Last night as we watched
the football games,
we talked about our
checklist.

  • complete buyout of flooded property
  • pay off truck & RV loans
  • sign George up for SS (7/14 will be 62!)
  • turn in resignation at Laurie's job
  • secure health insurance, or sign up for COBRA
  • put up our resume & find workkamp job within first 3 months
  • change residency to South Dakota
  • sell Laurie's car
  • purge more items out of RV (don't need work clothes!)
  • buy Pressure Pro system & GPS (Rand Mcnally truckers)
  • check out tires on truck & change if needed
  • buy a satellite TV system 
  • get physicals & final checkups
  • get Harvey weighed
  • get senior park pass
not necessarily in that order!!
 
We've already done the following:
  • joined Passport America
  • joined Good Sam club
  • opened ING checking account
  • signed up for roadside assistance with Good Sam
  • signed up for an RV fuel card with Flying J/Pilot
I'm sure there are other things for both lists.
It has been a 3 year process, lots of research,
prayer, and searching.

We are getting excited to explore the country,
and see family & friends.


Saturday, January 14, 2012

So this is January!

Another lazy weekend for us.
Last weekend it was nice
enough for a walk.
This morning, not so much!



Not much snow, thank goodness, 
but frigid temps..right now it's 21 degrees,
and tonight it's supposed to hit a low of 12!

We're experimenting a bit with our heat.
We used electric only last month (temps were above average)
and our electric bill is $284.64!
This was using space heaters and
the fireplace only! Yikes!

This month we're using propane only.
We were going to have the gas 
company deliver a 90# tank
for the winter. George decided instead
to use 4 35# tanks. Two came with 
the RV, and two he's borrowing.
The gas company will fill each one for $20
We have the thermostat set at 65,
so we'll see.
I keep thinking that this is still cheaper 
than what I paid to heat my drafty victorian!

With January half over, and the temps
above average, maybe it will be better.
Stay tuned :-)

A couple changes too..
we decided to change our map on
the sidebar to reflect places
that the RV has been :-)
So far Harvey's only been right here in PA.

Sometime today we're going to
sit down and get our list going
of what's left to do.

That countdown on the right
is going fast!!

Saturday, January 7, 2012

This is January?

We can't believe how nice
the weather has been
so far this winter.
La Nina is helping 
that along.
 
Today, while George 
went to fill the propane tanks,
I did my Wii workout, 
then headed off for a pedicure.

After lunch, we took a
ride across the river
to the Forty Fort airport.
Next to it is the levee,
which we've ridden before
on our bikes.
This time, we just took a nice walk.

The river is very low..


We didn't see any birds today..
but we did see other flying things..


We had a great 2 mile walk
along the levee.
Since there are no leaves 
on the trees, we were
able to see Harvey across the river.


George made fun of me
walking in flip flops in January..


Hey, I'll take this kind of 
weather in the winter anytime!
Not having to wear coats..


or scarves..
 ...works for us!

Monday, January 2, 2012

New Year's 2012

We hope everyone had
a terrific New Year's eve & day.

We did end up
staying up in time to 
watch the ball drop.
 Dick Clark sounded a bit better
  than last year, 
although he did look 
like he had a
spray on tan ;-)

Sunday we spent
hanging out, then
grocery shopping.
George did some things
outside, 
while I did another 
jammie day.

Today we cleaned up
Harvey..this is an
every other week chore
that lasts about 20 minutes.

We decided to get the Wii
out and play a few games too.

First it was bowling..

George always scores high!


Then it was on to frisbee..
with the cute little dog..


We had a great time!

I got back on my Wii balance board,
with a vow to get healthy 
before we hit the road.

More exercise, 
less eating,
and more fresh air!